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Full-time/part-time ratios

Establishing a ratio of full-time faculty to part-time faculty in the contract

The model Faculty and College Excellence legislation calls for 75 percent of undergraduate courses in each department with the equivalent of eight full-time positions be taught by full-time tenured or tenure-track faculty. The idea of setting a ratio to maintain a certain level of full-time staff is not new. Several local unions have done so, although formulas differ from institution to institution.

Below are examples of unions who have been working toward or who have achieved this standard, along with links to their web sites and collective bargaining agreements (where available).

Connecticut State University AAUP

The CSU AAUP chapter, which bargains the contract covering Eastern, Central, Western and Southern Connecticut State Universities, has bargained a provision that establishes a limit on the number of part-time faculty teaching at any particular university in the system to 20 percent. That percentage is calculated as follows:

The part-time percentage for a particular university shall be computed by multiplying by one hundred (100) all load credits earned by part-time members (excluding all part-time load credits attributable to sabbatic leave, sick leave, retraining coverage, research load credit, and all reassigned time for full-time members) divided by the aggregate faculty load credits for the particular university based upon the data for the particular academic year.

Henry Ford Community College Federation of Teachers

The HFCC Federation establishes a ratio by establishing a floor for the size of the full-time faculty that increases annually. In addition, they ensure a certain ratio at the departmental level with the following language:

Whenever the number of classes taught during the day by part-time teachers within a department/division is equal to or exceeds two (2) full-time positions for three (3) consecutive semesters, the Administration shall honor the request of the department/division for additional full-time teachers, up to a number that would reduce the amount of day part-time teaching within the department/division to less than that equal to two (2) full-time positions.See the full HFCC Federation contract here.

The Minnesota State College Faculty

The Minnesota State College Faculty represents all faculty, both part-time and full-time, in Minnesota's two-year colleges. The MSCF contract includes a provision which stipulates that the State will "employ no less than seventy percent" full-time faculty at the system level and "no less than sixty percent" full-time faculty at each institution.

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This section of our website is dedicated to capturing as many bargaining efforts and successes as possible. As we say on each page that documents these achievements, if your contract has provisions that should be included here, please contact us and let us know.

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The American Federation of Teachers is a union of professionals that champions fairness; democracy; economic opportunity; and high-quality public education, healthcare and public services for our students, their families and our communities. We are committed to advancing these principles through community engagement, organizing, collective bargaining and political activism, and especially through the work our members do.